Was this dickish riding?

[hightower]

Looking for opinions. Now I know it's hard to gather full events and distances and things, so I'll try and explain as the picture isn't to scale.


The left hand lane is for going straight on. It's where I wanted to be. The right hand lane is for turning right only. The lights are on green and traffic is moving along at about 10mph in the traffic light queue.


I decide to use the 'turn right' lane to filter, and start looking for my gap. I notice a gap in front of a van up towards the lights and think "that'll do nicely" and accelerate a tadge to make sure I can catch it. By the time I get there, the van is maybe 30 yards from the lights. I've drawn a car in front of him to show flow of traffic, however, the car in essence was much farther cleared of the lights (it was a good gap I thought, hence why I took it) which I thought I could accelerate in to if needed.


As you can see in the drawing, there is one car waiting to turn right that is stationary at the lights. I nip in, the distance between the car turning right and the van going straight on is probably about 20 yards now, but I nip in probably about 5 yards gap between myself and the van and continue to accelerate away, so pretty sure the van didn't have to slow for me or anything like that.


Now I'm about 50 yards in front of the van but I notice flashing in my mirrors, so look over my shoulder to see his arms waving in anger. Slow down, to ask him what all the fuss was about, but all I heard was the wind.


I think I'm a pretty sensible filterer, but this guy has got my back up this morning - so much that I then accelerated in a mild rage of my own and overtook a few cars.


So, that move - was it a dickish move giving us bikers a bad name, or would you have filtered in a similar manner?


Thanks,

[Jacko]

Sounds a reasonable thing to do.
Van driver probably never saw you coming so when surprised it becomes your fault, hence his reaction.

[bigbluebear]

I'd say the van driver was the dick...you didn't cause anyone to suddenly brake or slow down.

[locksmith]

Of course the biker is not at fault

[red98]

he`s a van driver....nuf said 

[richfzs]

Thing to do is stay calm yourself - as jacko said, van driver probably got a shock (partly due to his lack of awareness of other road users) and reacted badly. Ultimately no harm done, but if you react to his reaction and let red mist descend, that's when things take a downward spiral...

[ChristoT]

Seems OK to me. I've done it plenty of times, and as others have said, he a) maybe didn't see you, and b) probably resented you making faster time than him.

[midden]

A reasonable maneuver,  perhaps  the dickish part was you engaging with him when a hand up to say sorry  in case he felt u were too close and to humour his pmt  would have meant nothing to u and a lot to him ...  ....... 

That said I do find myself having moments of turrets shouting Twat in my helmet

[Exupnut]

You shud ask simonM. He's got experience in this area :-)

[fazersharp]

Your both as bad as one another NOT THE FILTER move. But the van man for getting in a rage, and then later you getting in yours, although I would want to put a few cars inbetween me and him.

[midden]

I think we all have experience in this as well as acting like dicks Exup

[Frosties]

Nowt wrong with what you did in my book fella.....do it all the time. Van driver was just being a cock, probably late & pissed off 'cos he had to queue! Catch him again tomorrow to see how red you can make him go 

[Lampwick]

Remember the first thing I learned when I started riding,  ALL other road users are idiots, & don't know what there doing, course your were right to do this manoeuvre 

[andybesy]

The only thing I'd say is try not to react emotionally when others are aggressive. You can very quickly come a cropper. I'm not saying I'm immune to it either, I think we all react like that sometimes, but like a panic reaction, best to recognise it and deal with it.

Andy

[Exupnut]

I think we all have experience in this as well as acting like dicks Exup

WOW!!! My first troll. I feel a more complete intrawebber now ;-)

[stevierst]

It's a good move if you ask me, as long as you didn't make them brake/swerve then it's your right to do so.
 As hard as it is just don't react to their little dummy spitting/teddy in the corner arm thrashing shit. Just look at them and ignore, it really winds them up 
 
Just remember, your in and out of their life in a few seconds, they're the ones left wanting, not you!

[mtread]

The van driver was probably on his phone and you interrupted his call   

[midden]

I think we all have experience in this as well as acting like dicks Exup

WOW!!! My first troll. I feel a more complete intrawebber now ;-)

Lol troll???

[goldfazer]

Tricky - you weren't actually filtering were you? It's a manouvre you could have done in a car but wouldn't have. Ask yourself why not?

Don't get me wrong, I'd possibly have done it on the bike, but I can see WVM's point of view.

[dazza]

Another point to be aware of is that the van driver has a large blind spot in his mirrors due to the lack of side windows. To him, you may have just suddenly appeared out of nowhere and popped into the gap in front, hence the bad reaction. I get bad reactions sometimes from cagers, usually aggressive women who don't like being overtaken. Had one swerve her car towards me the other day when I was filtering in the opposite direction. Ignore them and enjoy your ride.  

[mtread]

but I can see WVM's point of view

That'll be over the top of his copy of the Sun then ?

[Phil]

Some people just dont like being overtaken. In a jam some people pull over to let you through as they realise you wont actually hold them up, some try to block your path because they think you should queue as well.
Its not worth argueing with another driver in situations like this.

As an aside, I also drive a van, rear windows obscured, and its amazing how many motorcyclists drive right behind out of view of the mirrors.  If they check their mirrors before overtaking just as you decide to overtake it could end in tears. If you cant see the driver, they cant see you.  Same for the passenger side if there is no window in the sliding door, the mirror provides a view to the rear. I've got one of those wide angle mirrors stuck on, but the visability isnt great. Even if the van has got a window in the sliding door, there might be stuff in the van obscuring the view.

[JZS 600]

Perfect filtering, shows command of the road!

[Chillum]

It shouldn't matter if the van driver can see you or not, you should always ride as if they have seen you but are going to try and take you out.

Looks like a clean manoueveueuueuevere to me.

[taylor]

I was recently on my way home from work in my transit van on the m4, at 730 pm, not many people about, when I came across a car in the fast lane doing 40 mph, I was doing 90.mph, he started to brake and wave at me in his mirror, with a big smile on his face, forcing me to undertake,   his wife had some sort of towel on her head, , so the boys in my van threw cans of newky brown at his windscreen,  he then pulled over to the slow lane, I offered to pull over but he declined. . I bet he wont do that again.????